The Lomond Group is eyeing further growth with the potential acquisition of 216 year-old estate agent Chestertons.
The group, which includes well-established brands such as Linley & Simpson, Thornley Groves, Brand Vaughan, John Shepherd, Stonehouse and Braemore, was created by a £100m merger of Lomond Capital and Linley & Simpson 12 months ago, with the combined company subsequently embarking on an acquisition spree across the UK.
But the property group, backed by private equity firm LDC, would make a statement of intent if it were to successfully purchase the London-based estate agency.
According to Sky News, which broke the story, the exclusivity period is currently in its early stages. However, a deal was not certain to happen.
It was revealed in September that Chestertons’ owners had hired Deloitte to oversee an auction of the business, which was founded in 1805.
The business is owned by an investment vehicle of Salah Mussa, a Libyan businessman who acquired it in 2005.
It operates from just over 30 offices across London, and is developing a franchise model which has seen it expand to 70 sites overall in 12 countries.
There have been no official statements issued by LDC or Chestertons.
Comments (1)
It will be interesting to see how much Lomond Capital value the chestertons.com domain as this has disappeared recently and been replaced by chestertons.co.uk.
Not good for the google rankings I would have thought plus where is the .com now and where ”will” it end up pointing to?
Finally, how strong are Chestertons internationally? Are these ”real” franchisees or just companies using the Chestertons name, but still trading under their own name in association with…….?
I am sure Lomond capital will do some really strong due diligence and if a deal is to be done it will be done.